coalitiongirl (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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sq_roundrobin2015-04-26 11:32 am
coalitiongirl) wrote in sq_roundrobin2015-04-26 11:32 am
Entry tags:
Scheduling and Technical Details
We're in! Signups are over, and we've got twenty-two, count 'em, twenty-two talented writers who have volunteered to lend their talents to a collaborative story, y'all. This means that we'll each likely only write one chapter of the fic so it doesn't become some kind of bloated monster, and coincidentally it'll be just as many chapters as each season is episodes.
I'm super excited and I hope you are too! Honestly, my main goal in this is that we have a supportive and fun group for writing, and the actual fic is secondary to it (though, of course, it's still a major priority).
I'd like to go through some of the more technical aspects of the round-robin first (there is a followup post here about plot and story):
What is a Round-Robin? It's a collaborative writing endeavor where each person writes one chapter and then hands it off to the next person. We'll discuss plot and come up with some kind of agreement/majority vote on which one works best for the kind of story that we're writing- and I'll talk about that more in depth in the next post, but I think that for this to work, we'll have to also discuss major plot points in advance and divvy them up within sections of the fic (e.g. someone writing one of chapters 5-10 will have to write in a first kiss or something like that, so we don't lose the story with all these authors).
Scheduling: Ideally, I'm hoping that each writer will be able to turn out a chapter within two weeks of the last one posted. Don't worry if it isn't your best work or if you're turning out something closer to a draft (though ideally, everyone is of course better off with the finished product!)- you can fine-tune your chapter for some time afterward, the most important part is that it's out so the next person can get cracking!
I'm in EST, but I think we can be somewhat flexible with our deadlines for now. I'll just be posting with EST, which means that Australians may be seeing my posts a day later than written here.
Dreamwidth: The beauty of Dreamwidth is in the comments section, which is where I encourage you all to play. You can reply to each other ad infinitum and it's all stacked neatly and easily for viewing and discussion, and unless you've fiddled with notifications, you can get direct replies emailed to you.
Tracking posts: See this alarm bell at the bottom or top of the post?
That's your tracking button. When you hit it on any post, it'll give you the option to track the community (recommended) and to track the comments for a post. You can even set it to track all replies to someone else's comment. Your own posts and comments will of course be automatically tracked, so no worries about that.
Locked posts: I've had some interest from people who don't want to write but still want to be involved in the process, and I think that the best way to do that is to work with locked and unlocked posts. You've all made Dreamwidth accounts now. First, you'll need to join this community (which you can do right here on the right side of the screen or by hovering over the little globe icon next to its name) and then I'll make a list of just the writers. That way, that list can be used for posting the actual fic updates and any private announcements or spoilery questions, and the rest of the posts will be unlocked.
For example, once you're all in this group, I would lock the post about plots so no one outside the writing group will know what we've chosen! But if you have a general question about, say, what went on in Emma's childhood foster homes, you could post it unlocked.
If we do this, we'll be able to make an official Tumblr account for this project and invite anyone who wants to come join us for general discussion, meta, or even just cheerleading. Otherwise, we'll keep it as quiet as we can until the story is out there. And, speaking of:
Posting the Story: I'm putting this one up to all of you right now, because as I see it, we have several options for posting.
Beta: Please get one. I won't make anyone use one, but if you're someone who relies on one generally or if you're not confident in your chapter, please contact one of the people listed on our writers list! You can post your chapter unbetaed and then rework it later if you're close to your deadline, but I do encourage you to put it out ready to go if possible.
Reviews: I know some people do, some people don't, but I strongly encourage everyone to leave feedback for your fellow writers here when they post their chapters. It might be a while before these chapters make it to the public, and I know that I'm not alone in the constant panic of "is it good enough?? did i just post a steaming pile of shit?" after I post anything. Every review helps, even if it's just an "I liked it!" And I don't think we'll have a problem with this, but if you do post/receive constructive criticism, please keep in mind that we're all doing this together and we all want to create something beautiful and enjoy ourselves, you know?
I'm super excited and I hope you are too! Honestly, my main goal in this is that we have a supportive and fun group for writing, and the actual fic is secondary to it (though, of course, it's still a major priority).
I'd like to go through some of the more technical aspects of the round-robin first (there is a followup post here about plot and story):
What is a Round-Robin? It's a collaborative writing endeavor where each person writes one chapter and then hands it off to the next person. We'll discuss plot and come up with some kind of agreement/majority vote on which one works best for the kind of story that we're writing- and I'll talk about that more in depth in the next post, but I think that for this to work, we'll have to also discuss major plot points in advance and divvy them up within sections of the fic (e.g. someone writing one of chapters 5-10 will have to write in a first kiss or something like that, so we don't lose the story with all these authors).
Scheduling: Ideally, I'm hoping that each writer will be able to turn out a chapter within two weeks of the last one posted. Don't worry if it isn't your best work or if you're turning out something closer to a draft (though ideally, everyone is of course better off with the finished product!)- you can fine-tune your chapter for some time afterward, the most important part is that it's out so the next person can get cracking!
- April 26 - May 2: Overall plot and scheduling suggestions are submitted and discussed in the comments for their respective posts.
- May 3 - May 5: We'll put it all to poll and narrow down our options to find the favored overall plot.
- May 6 - May 9: Plot is finalized, major plot points are discussed and set to outline.
- May 10: First writer, you have until May 23 to start us off! (However, if you post earlier, the second writer's two weeks will begin earlier than May 23)
I'm in EST, but I think we can be somewhat flexible with our deadlines for now. I'll just be posting with EST, which means that Australians may be seeing my posts a day later than written here.
Dreamwidth: The beauty of Dreamwidth is in the comments section, which is where I encourage you all to play. You can reply to each other ad infinitum and it's all stacked neatly and easily for viewing and discussion, and unless you've fiddled with notifications, you can get direct replies emailed to you.
Tracking posts: See this alarm bell at the bottom or top of the post?
That's your tracking button. When you hit it on any post, it'll give you the option to track the community (recommended) and to track the comments for a post. You can even set it to track all replies to someone else's comment. Your own posts and comments will of course be automatically tracked, so no worries about that.Locked posts: I've had some interest from people who don't want to write but still want to be involved in the process, and I think that the best way to do that is to work with locked and unlocked posts. You've all made Dreamwidth accounts now. First, you'll need to join this community (which you can do right here on the right side of the screen or by hovering over the little globe icon next to its name) and then I'll make a list of just the writers. That way, that list can be used for posting the actual fic updates and any private announcements or spoilery questions, and the rest of the posts will be unlocked.
For example, once you're all in this group, I would lock the post about plots so no one outside the writing group will know what we've chosen! But if you have a general question about, say, what went on in Emma's childhood foster homes, you could post it unlocked.
If we do this, we'll be able to make an official Tumblr account for this project and invite anyone who wants to come join us for general discussion, meta, or even just cheerleading. Otherwise, we'll keep it as quiet as we can until the story is out there. And, speaking of:
Posting the Story: I'm putting this one up to all of you right now, because as I see it, we have several options for posting.
- Waiting until the end to post the fic weekly. The upside? Completed fic!! The downside? Among others, it won't be posted for a long, long time, and that's a lot of delayed gratification for the writers.
- Posting as we write. The upside is instant gratification and fairly consistent updates, the downside is that it'll require finished drafts very quickly and that's a lot of pressure on everyone.
- Posting weekly after we have 12-15 chapters. That way, there's still some delayed gratification, but there's a consistent schedule of posting and there can be a second deadline for writers who want to do their edits later on. I'm partial to this option, but please let me know in comments what your preference is!
Beta: Please get one. I won't make anyone use one, but if you're someone who relies on one generally or if you're not confident in your chapter, please contact one of the people listed on our writers list! You can post your chapter unbetaed and then rework it later if you're close to your deadline, but I do encourage you to put it out ready to go if possible.
Reviews: I know some people do, some people don't, but I strongly encourage everyone to leave feedback for your fellow writers here when they post their chapters. It might be a while before these chapters make it to the public, and I know that I'm not alone in the constant panic of "is it good enough?? did i just post a steaming pile of shit?" after I post anything. Every review helps, even if it's just an "I liked it!" And I don't think we'll have a problem with this, but if you do post/receive constructive criticism, please keep in mind that we're all doing this together and we all want to create something beautiful and enjoy ourselves, you know?
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In fact, I'm happy to compile a fic 'Bible' the way Shows Better Than OUAT do so that any facts that are laid down are there for later chapter writers to refer to. The easiest format will probably be in a Google document so if you're the writer of ch 17 you can check if anyone has mentioned Regina's duvet color in any preceding chapter without reading the whole story again.
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And I'd prefer the third option for posting. Just seems like the "easiest" course of action without waiting until everything is completed.
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